Native American Identity as a Result of Colonialism One of the most profound results of colonialism is the creation of clearly separated spaces physically and figuratively, leading to the development of distinct identities rooted on each side. In Sherman Alexie's novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the challenges of overcoming racial, social, and cultural barriers faced by fourteen-year-old Junior as he leaves his Indian reservation to attend an all-white school reflect the complex domestic situation and external perceptions of modern Spokane Indigeneity. Alexie uses first-person narrative and self-talk to portray Junior's exploration and confrontation between the white and Indian worlds that lead him to discover individual identity amidst two homogenous cultures. Joelle Fraser's interview with Sherman Alexie also reveals inherent discrepancies in how modern Native American culture is rendered by "colonial" authors in contemporary literature and the barriers to entry faced by Native American authors. By portraying “white” and “Indian” as mutually exclusive identities and profiling individuals at the intersection of these two worlds, both texts challenge socially imposed perceptions of Native American identity that exist as peripheral colonial constructs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay At the beginning of Alexie's novel, Junior lives on the Wellpinit Reservation and identifies entirely as a Spokane Indian. He accepts the seemingly inevitable role he has been assigned on the reservation as "the world's biggest retard" (4) considering his baffling health problems, his pronounced speech, strange body proportions, and his sensitive and bizarre behavior. His self-portrait in the novel's first chapter depicts a lanky, grasping, stammering teenager with the satirical caption "ME in all my GLORY." Although he aspires to embody a sense of hope toward the future, Junior possesses the self-deprecating attitude projected by everyone around him on the reservation: "I wish I was magical, but really I'm just a poor kid from the reservation living with his poor family on the poor Spokane Indian Reservation” (7). Junior is conditioned to think that because he lives on a reservation, he is poor and Indian, he is confined to these roles and a limited scope of society Reardan, the all-white off-reservation school, the majority of Indians on the reservation despise and harass him, calling him names like "white-lover", explicitly stating that he is a traitor and a disgrace to the tribe. At the same time, Junior is having a surprisingly smooth transition to school in Reardan. The brutal rejection of the other Indians at home contrasts markedly with the meaningful relationships formed with white characters such as his classmates Penelope, Gordy, and his basketball coach. On top of that, Junior's decision to transfer schools inspires his sister, Mary-Runs-Away, to marry spontaneously and move to another reservation in Montana. Junior’s inner dialogue reveals his shock at the influence he has had on his family and others on the reservation: “Since the Spokane Indian Reservation was established in 1881, no one in my family has ever lived anywhere else. We are absolutely tribal. For better or for worse we do not leave each other” (89). Guilt and confusion arise when Junior realizes that his choice to leave means nothingonly the birth of new opportunities for him, but the partial death of his indigenous tribe. She now interprets her departure as a rejection of her indigenousness and fears that it has caused irrevocable changes in her family and social dynamics. The young men's identity is directly called into question on his first day at Reardan when he is questioned about his name, "'My name is Junior,' I said. 'And my name is Arnold. I'm Junior and Arnold. I'm both.' ” (60 Alexie) At Reardan, he must give up his cultural reserve nickname and use his official name, “Arnold.” Junior's dramatic split identity complex is amplified on the basketball court : the loser who escaped the dead end reservation and creates a better future for himself On the other hand he is a traitor who abandoned his dying tribe for his own self-interest. This is depicted in another cartoon by Junior on basketball court scoring for Reardan against his old reserve team Wellpinit On the one hand he portrays himself as a devil despised by the Indians, and on the other as an angel praised by the whites each portrait, his facial expression is confused and anxiously. Finally, Junior has a revelation: “I realized that, of course, I was a Spokane Indian. I belonged to that tribe. But I also belonged to the tribe of American immigrants. And to the tribe of basketball players. And to the tribe of bookworms. And the tribe of cartoonists. And the tribe of chronic masturbators. And the tribe of teenagers. And the tribe of small-town boys…” (217 Alexie). Junior's perception of identity is shattered when he realizes that identity exists in multiplicity rather than binary. He doesn't have to choose to identify as Spokane or as white, the reality is that he embodies a complex identity that encompasses all of his unique characteristics, experiences and idiosyncrasies. It exists not only in the socially imposed context of the “rez,” but in a much larger tribe that extends throughout global society. In an interview by Joelle Fraser, Alexie further comments on the one-dimensional nature of Native American identity imposed by colonialism. . He points to clear examples of inaccurate portrayals of Native Americans through literature, “…what I really want to say is that we should talk about these books, written about Indians by non-Indians, honestly and accurately. They are colonial books. I mean, these are books by outsiders…These are books by members of the privileged, the powerful, writing about the culture of the colonized” (60). When the majority of Native American literature is written by non-Natives during colonial times, the representation of Native American culture and identity is placed dangerously in the hands of “colonizers,” who have the power to widely distribute their perceptions throughout society which, while well-intentioned, is ultimately a made-up fantasy and contributes to the idea of ​​a binary racial identity. Alexie argues that too many stereotypes and impressions have been crafted by colonial writers: "You add a couple of birds and four directions and corn pollen and it's Native American literature, when it has nothing to do with the daily lives of Indians . I want my literature to be about the daily lives of Indians” (63). Furthermore, he points out that Native American writers themselves begin to feel obliged to occupy stereotypes in literature to satisfy white audiences: “I think most literature Native American is interested in the place because they tell us they are. It's harmful.”(63) He admits that even his literature does not always reach Native Americans: “Tonight I will look up from reading and % of the people in the crowd will be white. There is.